The court documents also identified a ‘prior U.S. president.’
A grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday indicted 18 Republicans with conspiracy, fraud, and forgery for submitting a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona during the 2020 presidential election.
The court documents identify a “prior U.S. president,” presumably referring to President Trump, as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes blacked out the names of seven individuals indicted in the records released. Her office stated in a press release that the names would be disclosed once those individuals were served with the charges.
Electors are people selected to officially cast a state’s electoral votes within the U.S. Electoral College system utilized during presidential elections.
The eleven people identified as fake electors from Arizona, namely Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jake Hoffman, Anthony Kern, Jim Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Loraine Pellegrino, Greg Safsten, Kelli Ward, and Michael Ward, each face nine felony counts. These charges encompass conspiracy, fraudulent schemes, artifices, and forgery.
“A state grand jury made up of everyday regular Arizonans, has now handed down felony indictments for all 11 Republican electors as well as several others connected to this team,” Mr. Mayes said on Wednesday. ”These are serious indictments, but this is the first hurdle the state must pass in our constitutional criminal justice system.”
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On Dec. 14, 2020, the 11 individuals nominated as Arizona’s Republican electors convened in Phoenix, where they signed a certificate during a ceremony, asserting themselves as “duly elected and qualified” electors and alleging that President Trump had won the state.
The Arizona Republican Party posted a one-minute video of the signing ceremony on social media. Subsequently, the document was transmitted to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward said at the time that her state’s Republican electors, who cast their votes for President Donald Trump on Dec. 14, 2020, believe they “represent the legally cast votes in our state.”
The Arizona electors held their ceremony soon after U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa dismissed their lawsuit that sought to decertify the results that awarded then-candidate Biden’s victory in the state. The judge dismissed their lawsuit for lack of legal standing, untimely filing, and failure to substantiate their claims with factual evidence.
Their lawsuit was one of eight that sought to challenge the integrity of the vote count in the Arizona election.
The attorney general’s office launched its investigation several months after Ms. Mayes, a Democrat, took office, replacing Republican Mark Brnovich.
Wednesday’s indictment in Arizona marks the fourth state to bring charges against individuals involved in the scheme of “fake electors.”
This is a developing story.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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